Just some of the many random thoughts that run through my head

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Homeless For A Week

For those of you whom I am not friends with on Facebook or twitter, let me quickly recap my weekend for you:

I ate dinner on Friday night at work around 7:30pm. I got home around 11:30, couldn’t sleep, so I played a game with my friend, then went to bed about 2:30am, which is when I finally got tired.

Woke up at 4:30am, and was at work by 5am. Spent the next 12.5 hours outside, moving stuff, barely getting a chance to sit other than to dump pictures to my laptop, and I didn’t eat all while at work…

Now, that was by choice a) I forgot to pack food, b) I didn’t want to spend money c) about half way through the day, I made dinner plans with a friend.

I get off of work around 5:30, call my friend, get no answer. Waited a minute, tried again. This time, I leave a message letting him know to call me by 6 or I’m gonna make dinner for myself. Then I go upstairs to my room, and sit down on my couch to wait for the call/for 6 for me to make food.

6pm rolls around, no call.

I also had been sitting too long and no longer had the energy to get up and cook myself something… I took to Facebook to see if anyone could help me out, bring me food (I was even willing to give them my card to go and get it, my treat. At that point, I was too hungry to care about budget). I tried googling pizza places near me that delivered, but either I was too tired to read it right, or none of the ones online deliver, which is probably ok, cuz I’m not sure I would have had the energy to go downstairs when the pizza man arrived…

Finally, about 8pm, I manage to muster what strength and energy I had left, and walked the five steps that felt like 5 miles to my bed.

And passed out.

Awoke an hour and a half later, to see that I had slept through 2 phone calls, and 4 text messages. Which, if you know me, is very rare. I wake up for 98% of all phone calls, and 75% or so of all text messages.

I returned the missed calls, they were both from the same person, and after hanging up, my only thought before passing out, stomach almost in pain from hunger, was “I wonder what it would be like to eat like a homeless man for a week.”

That thought stayed with me through the night and was my first thought in the morning.

That thought never left my mind. It got me wondering things like “how many times a day does the average homeless person eat?” or maybe it’s “how many days does the average homeless person wait between meals? How big are those meals? What do those meals consist of? Is it just some bread and crackers? maybe a can of soup or vegetables that they eat cold straight from the can because they can’t heat it up?

I decided I want to find out the answers to those questions, “how long between meals for the average homeless person” and “what do those meals look like?”

Then, for one week, I want to eat like a homeless person.

Not make a big deal about it, not do some big feast at the end, but quietly eat like a homeless person. See if anyone notices, maybe feel the pain in my stomach like they do.

So, if you have any info about homelessness, specifically about eating habits, please leave them in the comments below. And if possible, please cite your source for the info, I want to make sure I’m as accurate as possible…